"Les Rotes with palmtree" Painting

Ben Rikken (1951)

"The motto of my work is: See, then it only exists. The reason for a painting can be a strip of light on the sea, a momentary ripple on the water, the silence after a rain shower. In all its manifestations, water is a connection between sky and land. I feel at home on the waterfront, because there light and color come together in optima forma, there I see the light "silent" with a passing storm, colors light up in the summer afternoon or glow in the I strive to translate those characteristic moods that I experience in the landscape into a palette that is challenging to me. "

Ben Rikken prefers to work on site, strengthened in his view that "if you want to paint a landscape, you have to BE there too". He captures his fascination for the changing appearances of the landscape in series of oil studies with varying color schemes with the brushwork that is characteristic of his own handwriting. Sometimes he elaborates these studies in the studio in a larger format, some of which can be seen in this exhibition.
He regularly makes trips abroad, especially southwards, to the coast of Normandy, Brittany, the French south coast, to the Italian west coast, but now mainly to the Spanish east coast. There he managed to conquer a more colorful palette due to the constant, warm afternoon light. While at the seaside we mainly look at the light, there you have the light in the back, which offers a much richer and warmer palette. He has also applied the same palette to subjects closer to home, the boathouses, boats and reflections of objects in the water at the Zuidlaardermeer, Matsloot, and the Reitdiep.

In the work made on the Wad near Paessens - Moddergat he explored the border area between land and sea, the relationship between the colors of land, water and sky.
This series of paintings concludes another phase in the search for the ultimate light in my work.

An exhibition by an avid observer, with a flawless sense of mood, light and color captured in idiosyncratic and striking compositions.